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| Author | InfoLink |
| Updated | May 31, 2018 |
SNEC, the world’s largest solar energy exhibition, came to an end. The market witnessed chaotic pricing during the three-day exhibition. However, since everyone is expecting lower prices in the PV market, the trading volume remained weak for all sectors of the supply chain except conventional mono and mono-Si PERC cells which were stimulated by the 0630 installation boom.
Poly
The polysilicon market is in wait-and-see mode this week. This segment of the market focused on buyer prices as anticipated during the SNEC, while sellers were mostly prepared. In addition, polysilicon manufacturers began to witness higher inventory level and have conducted negotiation in advance as they were worried about the market outlook. Lowering prices has become a consensus to all manufacturers.
The number of new orders for polysilicon is still small. Judging from now, it seems that there won’t be more actual orders placed until after the SNEC and next week. Top-tier polysilicon manufacturers in China and the overseas remained conservative for prices, mostly focusing on previous orders. Yet, polysilicon prices are likely to decline significantly until June where new contracts have to be signed.
Wafer
Longi announced a new round of prices last week. Prices kept declining as expected. The average trading price of mono-Si wafers reached RMB 4.25/piece in China and US$ 0.58/piece in the overseas. In addition, the stable mono-Si wafer demand has led to small price gap among mono-Si wafer manufacturers.
Not just the multi-Si wafer market that were affected by the high inventory level, the multi-Si cell and module markets also witnessed unclear demand, resulting in lower prices. The average trading price of multi-Si wafers reached RMB 2.8-3/piece in China and US$ 0.4/piece in the overseas. Manufacturers are selling them at even lower prices.
The price competition between mono and multi-Si wafers hasn’t ended yet in the short run. Future polysilicon prices and the production suspension of multi-Si ingots as well as inventory clear out will affect multi-Si wafer prices.
Cell
Cell manufacturers are still handling orders for May this week, with the actual trading volume remaining low. Driven by certain 0630 projects, prices of conventional mono and mono-Si PERC increased again. The average trading price of mono-Si PERC cells rose to RMB 1.65-1.7/W in China, slightly pushing up the actual trading price. The price trend of conventional mono-Si is similar to mono-Si PERC, rising to RMB 1.53-1.6/W and may slightly increase further next week.
Due to the weak demand, the multi-Si cell market saw completely opposite price trend from the mono-Si cell market. Although the trading volume was weak this week as everyone expected lower prices, it’s inevitable for multi-Si cell prices to drop significantly taking into account the decline of wafer prices. Prices of multi-Si cells may reach RMB 1.28/W and below for China and US$ 0.172/W for the overseas.
Module
Mono-Si module prices will be more stable following the stronger demand. However, multi-Si module makers have been clearing out the stock at cheaper prices. As the demand slowly increases due to the 0630 installation boom, manufacturers’ module stock has been digested gradually.
The price gap between mono and multi-Si wafers/cells continues to increase. The higher cost effectiveness of multi-Si products is likely to stimulate the multi-Si demand in the end of Q3. The gap of price and market share between mono and multi-Si products will continue.